


Sincere

by LaCacciatrice



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/M, but feelings are or will be there lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 18:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16728333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaCacciatrice/pseuds/LaCacciatrice
Summary: She was labelled as a liar by his friends and his Lady. And it wasn't like they were wrong. Lila Rossi was a liar. But it wasn't always black and white. And as someone who grew up with Gabriel Agreste's sharp eyes on him 7/24, Adrien knew there was always more to story.When he looked at her, he didn't see a simple liar. He saw a girl who was scared to be herself, who was so desperate to make friends that she would do anything look 'cool', to make them like her. A girl who is far from home. A girl who needed someone by her side.





	Sincere

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is probably my least favorite work lol but I wrote this last week and seeing how badly Lila is treated by the show and writers, I had to post it  
> English isn't my first language, bear with me

Adrien wasn’t proud of himself for using Plagg’s powers and his hero self to stalk a girl. Well, it wasn’t stalking if you were doing it for their own good, right? He wasn’t proud but he felt a desperate need to find Lila after Ladybug purified her akuma. He would go after her long before if Ladybug wasn’t so obsessed with the idea of checking on Adrien Agreste. Chat Noir tried to tell her it wasn’t necessary, he wasn’t hurt, Lila wouldn’t actually hurt him and her Miraculous Cure fixed everything anyway. But Ladybug was persistent. It was mostly awkward when he hid in his bathroom during the entire encounter. Adrien was sure Ladybug felt awkward, too, because apart from her uncommon stuttering, the brief look he had on her face confirmed that she was blushing painfully. Ugh. They were such a mess.

Adrien followed the brunette until the Jardins du Trocadéro. It took him a couple of minutes to find a safe place to de-transform. It always felt like something left him with Plagg as his ring turned to simple silver. He couldn’t explain it, it wasn’t like his personality suddenly changed. After all, Chat Noir was still Adrien, he had more freedom to act as silly as he wanted thanks to the mask but the ring didn’t magically change his personality. Maybe it was the power. Power that made it possible to change lives and help people. 

But Adrien could help people, too.

At least he hoped he could help Lila.

When he found her sitting on one of the benches, arms tightly wrapped around her legs and chin pressed against her shins, he felt guilty without understanding why. Ladybug was the one who yelled at Lila. And she wasn’t wrong, Lila was playing with something she couldn’t understand, Miraculous was no joke. However, Ladybug didn’t need to be so harsh. She was just a young girl, trying to make friends. She thought superheroes were cool so she lied without knowing the importance of the subject. Yet, Ladybug treated her like she was le Papillon or a criminal and it didn’t sit well with Adrien. He was really mad at his Lady back then. His anger disappeared quickly and only thing that was left behind was bitterness coming from sadness and guilt. 

God, they were really a mess. 

“Excuse me.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. That was Adrien’s problem. Mask made it possible to act more confident while Adrien was a home-schooled awkward kid with taught-by-my-father's-assistant social skills. Most assumed he was a very confident, charismatic teenage due to being a rich and famous model but deep down he was just a starry-eyed kid who was looking at everything like he was seeing it for the first time since he gained a piece of freedom by going to public school. “Can I sit here?”

Lila’s head snapped up, eyes widening as they met Adrien’s summer green ones. For a second, her face twisted in a way that made Adrien think she was going to tell him to disappear or something more rude and vulgar that Adrien couldn’t even think of without feeling his father’s disappointment on him. But then her eyes softened and soft pink blush coloured her cheeks. She turned her gaze forward and shrugged without looking at Adrien. Well, that was a start. 

Adrien sat next to her as they both looked forward, watching tourist groups and university students walking around. Adrien loved quiet moments like this. Where he could sit down and observe other people. Make stories about their lives in his head. He never had moments like this before going to public school. He was always too busy or trapped in a room with either tutors or photographers. 

It was beautiful.

“I want to say...” He eyed a blue haired university student wrapped her arms around a smaller girl with brown hair, clearly joking about something. “I am sorry.” 

This made Lila look up at him again, with confusion and surprise this time.

“What?” When she spoke, her voice came out cracked and deep like she was crying or she didn’t speak for a while. 

“I am sorry you got akumatized.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Lila said softly, her fingers playing with the strands of silky brown hair. “It was Ladybug’s.”

“She’s not normally like this.” He felt a need to defend his partner especially when she wasn’t here. She was a good person and a hero, one mistake didn’t mean she deserved to be hated. “She is a good person. You will see. I am not saying she wasn’t wrong to yell at you like that but... I mean...”

“You think she was right because I am a liar.” She put an end to his misery bitterly. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously. She, this girl right next to him, was labelled as a liar by his friends and his Lady. And it wasn't like they were wrong. Lila Rossi was a liar. But it wasn't always black and white. And as someone who grew up with Gabriel Agreste's sharp eyes on him 7/24, Adrien knew there was always more to the story.

When he looked at her, he didn't see a simple liar. He saw a girl who was scared to be herself, who was so desperate to make friends that she would do anything look 'cool', to make them like her. A girl who is far from home. A girl who needed someone by her side.

“No, I... I don’t think you are bad person, either. I think we all had a bad day. We all made mistakes today.” Lila didn’t say anything back. Adrien sighed frustratedly. This wasn't going as he planned. But again, when was the last time his plans worked? That’s why Ladybug was the mastermind of their plans.

“Why did you lie to me?” He asked instead because he needed to know if it was going to work.

“I...” Lile bit her lower lip, considering telling the truth or avoiding his question. At the end, she closed her eyes with a frustrated sigh and muttered the truth. “I wanted to talk to you.” 

That wasn’t what Adrien expected. 

“Why didn’t you just talk to me?”

“It’s not that easy!” Adrien looked around them nervously as some passengers looked at them questioningly. But Lila wasn’t seeing them as tears rolled down on her cheek without her control, her fury making her eyes darker. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to be the new girl in a school where everyone already has friends? Do you know what it feels like to be in a new city, in a new country? La verità è che non voglio stare qui, in questo paese o in questa città!”

Adrien’s hand reached between them but he dropped it when Lila turned her head to the other side with a hurt expression.

“I wanted to be the cool girl everyone wanted to befriend. I didn’t want to be that girl who would leave in another 6 months so they just avoided until she was gone. There’s no point in building friendships with someone who would leave eventually.” Adrien thought of Nino then, how the other boy befriended him without a second thought despite Adrien being Chloé’s friend, who none of their classmates liked other than maybe Kim. He knew nothing about Adrien yet he wasn’t shy of offering his friendship to blond boy. Adrien wondered what would his life be without Nino’s friendship and the thought scared him immediately.

“I wanted to matter.” She whispered softly. “Not to my mother who wouldn’t even realize if I didn’t attend the school for 6 months. Not my absent father. So, I thought, I could matter to someone, if I convinced them I was cool.” 

“I— I think I understand.” Adrien rubbed his left wrist self-consciously, eyes focused on his bright orange  _Gabriel_  shoes. It was hard for Adrien to usually talk about his feelings. Only time he blurted them out was when he was with his Lady. But Adrien wasn't sure if silly love declarations to a teenage crush could be considered as a healthy way of expressing feelings. “This, everything, is still new to me, too.” He finally lifted his head and looked at Lila’s surprised expression. “I think I had it easy. I don’t know what I would have done without Nino offering me his friendship on my first day, especially when I had a rough start.” Lila looked confused for a second but she didn’t ask about it. 

They were quiet for a moment, watching tourists taking photos with dazzled faces as sun was setting slowly, illuminating the park with the prettiest and softest shades of yellow, orange and pink. 

“But you have one now.” Adrien finally spoke as his eyes followed a group of tourists pointing at something excitedly. 

“What?” Lila’s eyes widened as she turned to look at him. Adrien met her eyes with a small yet warm smile on his face. 

“You have a friend.” Lila’s eyes softened, she looked down between them for a second like she was considering something, biting her lower lip, an act that reminded Adrien of Ladybug. When Lila looked at him again, she was smiling, too. To Adrien’s surprise, she leaned forward slowly and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you, Adrien.” She whispered before pulling away. As Adrien sat there, dusty pink blush on his cheek and wide eyes, Lila got up on her feet and took her bag from the ground. She swung her bag onto her shoulder and looked down at Adrien’s dazzled expression with a soft smirk. Her eyes traced all over Adrien’s face before muttering, “Maybe Paris isn’t so bad after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, I'm lanthimo on tumblr


End file.
